Real-Life ‘Sharknado’ Debate Sparked By Shark Brought To Shore By Cyclone


A shark brought to shore during Cyclone Debbie in Queensland Australia has some pondering if it signals the possibility that the campy SyFy Channel movie Sharknado could genuinely happen.

According to CNN, residents of Queensland were frolicking in the aftermath of the cyclone which brought heavy rain and flooding. Of course, the damage and destruction by such tornado-like forces can also create dangerous situations from downed power lines to unstable structures to, yes, sharks on land. Queensland Fire and Emergency Services shared pictures of the bull shark that had been dropped inland by the cyclone as a warning to residents to navigate flooded areas with caution.

The shark may have made its way to land via flooding, but people aren’t ruling out that it was possibly brought in by the cyclone either. The revelation had Sharknado fans wondering if they should oil up their chainsaws in preparation for battle. Sharknado 5‘s official Twitter account shared CNN coverage of the stranded shark and fans were chomping at the bit.

Sharknado is a campy B horror movie that aired on the SyFy Channel in 2013. Starring Ian Ziering and Tara Reid, the film focuses on the dynamic duo fighting off a multitude of sharks that have been thrust onto land by a massive influx of tornadoes. Sharknado in all of its ridiculous glory had such a cult following it prompted four sequels. Production for Sharknado 5 just completed and is supposed to air this summer.

While most fans took the premise of fighting tornado sharks as seriously as the horror movie The Blob, the bull shark in Australia possibly being thrown inland by the cyclone shows that anything can happen. So should we prepare for the possibility that our injured hand will be transformed into a shark fighting weapon like Tara Reid’s in Sharknado 4? Does this mean that Universal Studios and Las Vegas are in jeopardy of thousands of man-eating sharks falling from the sky?

Whether or not real-life sharknado poses a threat to humanity, is debatable. While tornadoes have been known to gather up aquatic animals in the past according to National Geographic, Queensland’s incident may be the first documented shark to shore, but again, there’s no proof it was dropped off by the cyclone rather than the flood waters. Other instances of tornado flinging animals, however, have included frogs, fish, and even alligators. Despite that, scientists seem to think a true sharknado of SyFy Channel proportions is a ridiculous notion given the significant weight of most sharks.

‘Sharknado’ star Tara Reid thinks a real-life sharknado event could happen and in Australia it kind of did. [Image by Mark Davis/Getty Images.]

One person who does seem to believe that sharks could attack via funnel cloud is Sharknado star Tara Reid. According to a 2014 interview with GQ, Reid seemed to embrace the idea that eventually tornadoes would be strong enough to carry the weight of bulky sharks to shore.

“You know, it actually can happen,” Reid said while promoting Sharknado 2. “I mean, the chances of it happening are very rare, but it can happen, actually. Which is crazy. The chances of it are, like, you know, it’s like probably ‘pigs could fly.’ Like, I don’t think pigs could fly, but actually sharks could be stuck in tornados. There could be a sharknado.”

While some might think that Tara Reid and Sharknado producers have it all wrong, fans also might point out that Sharknado executives kind of got another piece of future history right. Sharknado 3, after all, had a reality star as the President of the United States. While it may have been Donald Trump’s out-spoken nemesis Mark Cuban, it certainly brings to light the possibility that anything can happen.

Let’s hope that the possible Queensland sharknado of one lone bull shark being thrown inland is as bad as the whirling shark attacks get.

[Featured Image by Minerva Studio/Shutterstock]

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